Month: October 2013

BOSTON — Made it here from Detroit in time for optional Sharks practice at Boston University’s Agannis Arena, a homecoming for Matt Nieto who was skating for the Terriers a year ago.

To be fair, it’s also a homecoming for John McCarthy, captain of BU’s NCAA championship team in 2009. But McCarthy has been back here as a Shark since then, so the focus was on Nieto. You can find that story online here

You’ll also see there that Raffi Torres took his new knee for a test drive of sorts. The results? Read the story, and, yes, I am shamelessly trying to drive a little more web site traffic.

With that taken care of, let’s take the obligatory look back at the November 2005 trade that changed the look of two franchises.

But let’s call it the Brad Stuart trade this time. Yes, Joe Thornton said he expects to be asked yet again about what it’s like coming back to Boston. But we know his response already — that he likes coming back here, that it’s always good to see his friends in the city.

Stuart, on the other hand, is back here as a Shark for the first time since the team sent him to the Bruins as part of the package in exchange for Thornton.

DETROIT — Late already here in the EDT and the plane lifts off earlier in the morning than I would prefer.

First the game, then the acquistion. You don’t know that the Sharks picked up tough guy Mike Brown from the Edmonton Oilers for a 4th round pick in the 2014 draft? We’ll get there in a minute.

Nice win for the Sharks, but not exactly an entertaining one. Logan Couture, he who scored the only shootout goal that sent the Sharks on their way with a 1-0 shootout victory, said it was a case of similar systems going head to head. Todd McLellan called it a playoff-style game and agreed with Couture to the extent of calling it “a chess match, no doubt about it.”

But while chess may be excitingly cerebral for the two players going at it, how much fun is it to watch?

I rest my case.

Still, the excitement was there in the third period and Antti Niemi was huge then and in the shootout, especially when he stopped Todd Bertuzzi to seal the deal.

“He kind of had me down there, but usually they still try to get it higher off the ice,” Niemi said of the play. “It’s kind of instinct and reaction.”

At this point I feel compelled to note the game story is available here and suggest you go read it.

DETROIT – Actual news this morning: Brent Burns, whose mouth has been a mess since taking that inadvertent stick from Ottawa goalie Robin Lehner back on Oct. 12, took another hit to the dental area in Saturday night’s 6-3 win over Calgary and won’t be playing tonight against the Red Wings.

Freddie Hamilton will make his NHL debut on the Thornton line, which means the Sharks captain will be between two rookies with Tomas Hertl on the other wing. All that is covered in an online story posted here

Hamilton grew up in Toronto and his parents are coming for the game. And if he ends up getting a second start Thursday night in Boston, he’ll be playing against his younger brother, Dougie, a defenseman with the Bruins.

Beyond that, a lot of odds and ends from the Joe Louis Arena.

****Dan Boyle did not make the trip from San Jose and Todd McLellan didn’t sound too encouraging when asked if he might be able to connect with the team somewhere on its five-game road trip. To paraphrase, “he’ll be ready when he’s ready.”

Marty Havlat and Raffi Torres did make the trip, but that’s more of a sign of progress than ability to play — especially with Torres. Still safe to rule him out for a while.

****It’s always interesting to get Detroit coach Mike Babcock’s view of things and today was no exception.

To hear Babcock talk, for example, the Sharks-Detroit rivalry hasn’t been too strong for years even before his team’s move to the East.

“I don’t know if there’s a rivalry. We haven’t played them in the playoffs in 100 years, I don’t think,” he said, going the hyperbole route. “Their team has changed. Couture, in my opinion, has basically taken over as their number one center. Pavelski in the three hole and they’ve added some youth there that makes them a better, quicker harder team.

“We don’t know as much about them as we used to, but obviously we look forward to our home-and-home series with them. Should be fun.”

The rivalry between the Sharks and the Red Wings is on a downhill, irreversible slide. Soon Sharks fans won’t get any more worked up over Detroit than they do the likes of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It all has to do with Detroit’s move to the East. Even more relevant than the fewer regular season games is the fact the teams will never meet in the playoffs again unless it’s the Stanley Cup finals. Rather than repeat the case, I’ll just send you here

Now, yes, all bets are off when, or if, the two teams do meet in the Stanley Cup finals. In fact, Jamie Baker sees that as the perfect cap to this season.

“Wouldn’t that be perfect – we meet them for the Stanley Cup this year,” Baker said. “That would make it the ultimate sendoff. We’ll root for that.”

Baker said that one thing that players won’t miss with Detroit in the East are those long plane rides in post-season. In the finals, sure, you expect to go cross-country. But California to Michigan is a stretch for early round play.

I also had a chance to talk with Ray Whitney about the Sharks-Detroit rivalry. Whitney was a Shark for those first two series, then later played for the Red Wings — though not against San Jose in the playoffs.

This was Whitney’s take on Detroit heading East from the vantage of his current team, the Dallas Stars.

“Whenever you lose one of the top teams in your conference, you lose a few losses, which is nice,” the 41-year-old said. “Although it’s nice to have Detroit in your building on a lot of nights, it’s nice to see them go to the other side and not have to deal with Pavel Datsyuk anymore. A lot of people in the West are happy about that.”

Baker, by the way, said the one thing he would miss was the chance to see Datsyuk. Then again, Jamie’s not out on the ice with him.

****I filed a second online story that, if you haven’t heard yet, may shock you, so sit down.

Brent Burns and his hair — scraggly beard included — are going their separate ways. They’re calling it “Buzzcut for Burnzie.”

It’s all about raising money for two good causes, Defending the Blue Line and the Katie Moore Foundation. You’ll find out more here and here

****Shutting things down now. Have a chance to catch “Gravity” in nearby theater and don’t wanbt to blow it.

The Sharks remained perfect at home this season with a penalty filled 6-3 win over the Calgary Flames. There were no fighting majors doled out, although Matt Irwin and former Shark TJ Galiardi got into a tussle at one point, but the two teams combined for minor 17 penalties, with the Sharks going 3 for 9 with the man advantage.

“I think (the amount of penalties) effected the outcome,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “Our power play was, I guess you could say, dangerous in both ends. It scored us three, it allowed us to get the lead, it changed the momentum of the game, but it also gave up a shorthander and kind of got them going again.”

Joe Pavelski made his presence felt on the Sharks’ power play, with two goals and one of his two assists coming when the Sharks were up a man. His two goals and two assists on the night tied career highs for points and goals in a game. You can read the full story for tomorrow’s paper here.

SAN JOSE – TJ Galiardi has fond memories about his time with the Sharks, but couldn’t be happier now that he’s with his howntown Calgary Flames.

The 25-year-old Galiardi, dealt by San Jose to Calgary for the Flames’ fourth round pick in the 2015 draft, has fit in well with his new team. He enters Saturday’s game against the Sharks with one goal and two assists in six games, and Flames coach Bob Hartley likes Galiardi’s energy, versatility and work ethic.

“It’s been amazing, actually been better than I thought it would be,” Galiardi said Saturday. “It’s nice to be in a place you’re very familiar with and see people you know every day. I’m really happy with it and the start we’ve had has been what we wanted.”

Before they embark on a five-game road trip that takes them through the end of the month, the Sharks would like to get back to the good habits that led to a season-opening six-game win streak.

San Jose hosts the Calgary Flames on Saturday, the Sharks’ last home game before they leave for a road trip that takes them through Detroit, Boston, Montreal, Ottawa and Los Angeles.

“You have to be ready to skate against a group like this,” Sharks center Joe Pavelski said Saturday of Calgary. “I think it doesn’t matter who you play, it’s how you execute coming out of your end.

“It’s been a solid six games. Last game we did some good things and we got away from a few other things. We’re going to look to get back to playing with a little more speed, playing a little cleaner and taking care of our own end.”

Verdict came down: Five game suspension for St. Louis Blues forward Maxim Lapierre for the hit on Dan Boyle.

You can find Brendan Shanahan’s reasoning here

Bottom line is he didn’t like the hit and the onus was on Lapierre not to follow through as he clearly was going to hit Boyle in the numbers. But Shanahan did make the point that Boyle’s skate struck the kick plate at the bottom of the boards and made him more vulnerable because it caused him to lose his balance. That was a mitigating factor of sorts.

There was also speculation from reasonable people on Twitter that the fact Boyle doesn’t appear to be as seriously injured as it first seemed might have kept the number of games from going any higher.

Before the decision was released, I was told Sharks GM Doug Wilson would not be commenting on the ruling. So far, that seems to be the case.

****Unrelated, I’ll add this. Colleague Carl Steward reports from today’s practice that Marty Havlat was taking out there with his teammates for the first time this season. In a good mood, Havlat joked it was “different. First time in awhile I wasn’t the best player on the ice.”

Yes, that perfect record is gone in a game San Jose probably didn’t deserve to win, but hung close enough to have a chance. Shootouts are a crapshoot and the dice didn’t roll the Sharks’ way so it goes into the books as a 4-3 SO loss and San Jose is now 6-0-1.

Colorado, the only other team with a perfect record going into Thursday night’s game, lost 4-2 in regulation to Detroit, so San Jose does hold the distinction of being the only NHL team without a regulation loss. And nobody’s close to San Jose’s +20 goal differential.

The print-edition story on the Dallas game provides the basics here . Here’s what didn’t make the cut:

*For a while, Todd McLellan shuffled his lines for the first time all season looking for a spark. And it was Tomas Hertl dropping to the Pavelski line while Matt Nieto skated on the Thornton line.

“We’ve gone seven games now being comfortable as far as lines go and I didn’t think we had a lot of jump. Matt Nieto was one of them that was really skating well so we made the switch and it’s a learning process for the young players as well,” McLellan said.

“But we ended up going back to it,” he continued, “and at the end of the night, it wasn’t enough.”

*Nieto’s second NHL goal late in the first period showed exactly why the Sharks elevated him to the NHL after only 11 games in the minors: speed and that shot.

We were told that the injured Sharks defenseman did get back to San Jose where he continues to be under medical evaluation.

I did ask Coach Todd McLellan if he could provide any specifics on the injury.

What I got back was “upper body” and a dose of derision from a to-be-left-nameless media colleague for even asking the question when I knew what the answer was going to be.

As I said then, they pay me the big bucks to ask the question, even under those circumstances.

What we do know about tonight’s game, where the Sharks will try to equal last season’s 7-0 start with a victory over the Dallas Stars, is that McLellan is sticking to his plan to keep things simple and slide Brad Stuart into Boyle’s slot alongside Matt Irwin.

For Stuart, who missed the first two games of the season with a lingering injury and the last three because of that suspension for a hit on Rick Nash of the New York Rangers, it’s pretty much a second opening night.

His thoughts on that and a little more are in the online story filed here

Stuart was not in a repentant mood for the hit he put on Nash that cost him the three games. He pointed out that there was a six-hour wait while the NHL came up with its decision on the hit that has knocked Nash out of action since then, but that was as explicit as he got.